Sugiyama Yuna’s Kirin Commercial Co-Starring Homare Sawa Resurfaces on 5ch — “Wait, She Played Soccer?”

Background and Discussion Points

The commercial Sugiyama Yuna appeared in was a Kirin soccer ad built around the theme of “connection” between Homare Sawa and children — at the time, she appears to have simply been cast as a general child actor, not as any kind of soccer talent scout pick. What really got the thread going was the question of why Sugiyama, now a member of Hello! Project’s BEYOOOOONDS (“Byo”), chose Hello! Project at all, given she already had such a notable casting credit under her belt before joining. Hello! Project has several paths to membership — advancing from trainee status into a group, as well as a kind of “early/advance recruitment” where outside talent is brought in specifically to boost an existing group’s profile — and several posters referenced that system directly. The way pre-debut history like commercial credits or ball-juggling skills shown off at an audition keeps resurfacing well after the fact is itself something of a recent phenomenon, driven by how easily an idol’s past now gets dug up via social media and online archives.